JERUSALEM: Benjamin Netanyahu remains Israel's prime minister when the new parliament takes office Tuesday but its new, less friendly composition could make his life much more difficult.
Gadi Eisenkot, a former military chief seeking to move Israel to the centre, was given the mandate Sunday by President Isaac Herzog to form a new government, a complicated task as neither he nor Netanyahu command a majority.
Until then Netanyahu, Israel's longest-serving leader, remains caretaker prime minister – but the new 120-member parliament can still go to battle against him.
The lack of a new government "does not infringe upon the Knesset's prerogatives", said Assaf Shapira, a political expert at the Israel Democracy Institute.
